Motion picture apparatus



July 2l, 1936.

H. C. HOLDEN MOTION PICTURE APPARATUS Filed May ll, 1933 Patented July2l, 1936 PATENT OFFICE 2.94am Morton 'morons Arrsns'rus nuora c. nomen,Woodbury. N. J., signor to' Radio Corporation of America, New York, N.Yl, a corporation of Delaware Application May 11, 1933, Serial No.670,414

,zclaima This invention relates to motion picture appafratus, and moreparticularly to illm reels and tpindle `mountlngs therefor. i

' In recent years. the use of motion picture apparatus by amateurs hasbecome rather extensive, and various constructions have been proposedfor the purpose of preventing the reverse mounting of reels on theirspindles. According to one, for example. the spindle reel is madepolygonal at 1,0 its inner portion and circular at its outer portion toaccommodate a reel having anspindie opening correspondingly' polygonaland circular. with this construction. the reel can, obviously, only bemounted on the spindle when the side thereof is. having' the polygonalopening is first slipped onto spindle. Other constructions have alsobeen Proposed, and, while they may be individually quite" satisfactory,the great objection to them collectively is that they are notinterchange- ,a able. Consequently. the purchaser of apparatus equippedwith one type yof spindle is limited `to usingonly reelswhich can beaccommodated by 'that specific type of spindle, and nlms wound on reelsdesigned for accommodation on other types g5 of spindles must first beunwound from the latter reels and then rewoundon reels which fit thespecific apparatus available before the nlms can be used thereon.

It is the primary object of my invention to proa, videan improved reelwhich will lit all types of reel .spindles heretofore available inmotion picture. apparatus of the amateur type and which,thereiore.canbeusedonanyoneofthemany machines now on the market. soAnother obiect of my invention is to provide an improved spindle forespecially accommodating my improved reel. ,Y

Still another object of myinvention is to provide an improved reelspindle with 'which the reel o0 can have driving engagement only ifcorrectly .i

mounted thereon.

nv runner obieet'of my invention is to provide an improved reel spindleon which a reel may be positively, although releasably. locked inoperating position and 4against axial'displacement Ifrom the spindle.

Still a further object of my invention is to proy yvide an improved reelspindle which will only drive thereel when the-reel has been properly somounted thereon and locked in position.

, It is another object of my invention to provide an improved reel andreel spindle which will be ei'cient in use and economical ofmanufacture.

In accordance with my invention, I provide the 56 reci with a spindleopening auch that it will llt both polygonal spindles and cylindricalspindles. and, in addition, provide a slot in one of the,slde

Yplates ofthe reel in communication with the it is moved into slotengaging position, it autolo matically andy positively. althoughreleasably, locks the reel to the spindle against axial displacementtherei'rom. E

The novel features of my invention are set forth with particularity inthe appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to itsorganization and method of operation, together with additional objectsand advantages thereof,

will best be understood i'romthe following description of a speciilcembodiment, whenrread in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a sectional view`of my improved reel and spindle withcertain parts in elevation and the latch member in non-locking position,Figure 2 is a front elevation thereof looking from the right inFigure l,

3 is a broken view similar to Figure l but with the latch member inreel-lockin position, alla 30 Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 butalso showing the latch in reel-locking position.

Referring to the drawing, wherein like reference characters indicatecorresponding parts throughout, there is shown a bracket I forming -partof a moving picture machine and having at its upper end a bearing 2 inwhich is journalled a spindle 3 to which power may be supplied from amutable source (not shown) through a pulley'l. 'nie spindle 3 may be ofany desired conilgura- 40 tion in cross section beyond the bearing 2 forth'- reception or mounting thereon of a nlm reel I which will bedescribed hereinafter in greater detail. I have, however, for the sakeof illustration only, shown the spindle as being cylindrical throughout.i

The spindle is provided with an axial bore 'i and, at the free end 1thereof, with a slot l extending diametrically across the spindle insubstantially the plane of the axis thereof and in communication withthe bore 6. A latch member i having an extension or finger Il thereon,is pivotally mounted on the spindle l within the slot l by means of apin il, the latch member having a pair of notches l2, i3 in theperiphery thereof. 55

The latch member l is of substantially the same width as the diameter ofthe spindle l, and should, preferably. be no wider, so that a film reelmay be freely slipped onto the spindle when the latch member occupiesthe position shown in Figure 1. A plunger il, slidable in the bore isconstantly urged into engagement with the periphery of the latch memberby a spring Il, the plunger Il engaging the notch i2 to releasablyretain the latch member 9 in non-locking position, or the position shownin Figure 1, and engaging the notch I3 thereof to releasably retain thelatch member in locking position, as shown in Figure 2.

'Ine reel 5 comprises a pair of spaced. circular side plates i6 and I1connected together by a tubular hub member Il. Each of the plates l0 andI1 is provided. substantially centrally thereof, with a spindle openingI9. the openings Il.

being in axial alignment with each other and with the hub I8. Theseopenings may be of any configuration which will permit the reel to befreely mounted on the spindle I. Since the moving picture machines nowon the market employ both round and polygonal spindles, I have shown thespindle openings I! as being polygonal so that the reel will tit bothtypes of spindles. For example, the openings I9 may be made square withthe sides of the squares substantially equal 4in length to the crosssectional diameter of the spindle I. Thus. when the reel is mounted onthe spindle, the sides of the squares are tangent to the surface of thecylindrical spindle. At the same time, the reel may, of course, bemounted on a spindle of square cross section having the same dimensionsas the sides defining the openings IS.

Communicating with the opening I9 in the outer side plate I1 of the reelis a slot 2l which extends from one corner of the opening I in extensionof the diagonal. The slot 2l is arranged to accommodate the wider end ofthe latch member s, and. when the reel i is mounted on the spindle 3 andthe latch memberis moved into the slot 20, as shown in Figures 3 and 4,a driving engagement is eiected between the spindle and the reel. At thesame time, the extension or finger ill of the latch member is moved downinto engagement with the side of the plate I'I whereby the reel becomeslocked against easy axial displacement from the spindle.. To remove thereel from the spindle, however, it is merely necessary to raise thelinger il away from the side of the plate Il against the action of thespring III until thelatch member i has been turned back to non-lockingposition, whereupon y the reel may be easily slipped on from thespindle.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have provided an improvedreel which can be accommodated onv any of the standard projectors now onthe market, as well as an improved reel mounting for especially accog myimproved reel. My improved reel` and mounting are not only applicable'tomoving picture cameras and projectors, but also to film rewinding appalin my improved apparatus, only the side plate i1 has the slot 2l thereinand the reel can only have a driving engagement with and be` locked onthe spindle ii' mounted thereon with the plate Il on the outside. it isapparent that no error can 5 -be made in the operation of the machineand,

therefore, the danger of operating the machine with the reel incorrectlymounted thereon is entirely eliminated. A Although I have shown anddescribed but one specific embodiment of rny` invention, I am fullyaware that many modifications thereof are possible. For example, thefinger il may be provided with an offset for extending-into andcooperating with an opening in the plate Il whereby to provide drivingengagement between the spindle and reel additional to that illustrated.Also, if desired, the finger il may be'twisted through 90 whereby toprovide greater surface contact'between the finger and the side platei'l. Moreover, the openings Il may be made of other coniigurations thanthat shown. it being essential only that they be of such shape as torender the reel possible of being accommodated on any of the standardspindles now on the market. My 25 invention, therefore, is not to berestricted cept insofar as is necessitated by the priorhit and by thespirit of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A film reel mounting comprising a spindle 30 having an axial bore anda slot extendingdi'- ametrically thereacross at one end. thereof incommunication with said bore. ay latch member pivotally mounted in saidslot and having a pair of notches therein, said latch member beingmovjable to and from non-locking and lockingpsitions. and said member,when in non-locking'p'osition, permitting the mounting of a reel on saidspindle and, when in locking position, simultafneously locking the reelon said spindle against axial displacement therefroml and providing-'adriving engagement between said spindle andsaiil reel, and meansincluding a plunger movable' in y said bore, `said plunger beingadapted-to engage one of said notches for retaining said latchA mem- 45ber in non-locking position and being adapted 'to engage the other ofsaid notches for retaining said latch member in locking position. 2.Anim reel mounting comprisingaspindlehaving an axial bore and a slotextending diametrical'- ly thereacross at one end thereofincommimication with said bore, a latch member pivotally mounted in saidslot and having a pair of notches therein, said latch member beingmovable w airdfifom non-locking and locking positions, and said niember,when in non-locking position, permitting the mounting of a rcel on saidspindle and, when' in locking position, simultaneously locking thereelon said spindle against axial displacement therefrom and providing adriving engagement bei 0 tween said spindle and said reel, mea'ns'including a plunger movable in said bore, said plunger being adapted toengage one of said notches for .retaining said latch member innon-locking pos'ig tion and being adapted to engage the other 'of 35said notches for retaining said latch menib'erih locking position, andmeans urging said"plun'ger into notch engaging DOsition.

minou: c. Homme 'zo

